Is Lewis Hamilton overrated?

By Joe Murphy

Now, before I get vilified in the comments, you need to at least hear me out on this one. With a record equalling World Championships to his name, Lewis is, deservedly, in the conversation when debating who is the greatest driver in the sport’s history. He has recorded more race wins, more pole positions and more fastest laps than anybody in the 70 or so years the sport has existed. Furthermore, he was literally a lap away from winning his eighth World Title at last seasons Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

That being said, there is two sides to every argument and there are a group of people who don’t put Hamilton in the same class as Senna, Schumacher or Fangio. And we need to look at why this is.

The most common argument you hear, is that it’s all the car. Now, it is true that Lewis has indeed been in the best car on the grid for most of his career. It is also the case that, whilst he has won six championships in his time with the constructor, he had a compliant teammate for most of these seasons. It will be very interesting to see how he fairs against George Russell in 2022 and beyond. It is also up in the air the extend to which George will comply with team orders, should they materialise. All things considered, it’s hard to argue that the car hasn’t played a part in the Brit’s success.

Moreover, Lewis has been beaten for world titles and hasn’t had it all his own way. He lost out to Nico Rosberg in 2016. He also came up short, albeit narrowly, against Max Verstappen last year. He was arguably lucky against Sebastian Vettel with the German encountering a number of DNF’s in their title race a few years ago.

It is a popular trait, in any sport, that the most successful person or team gets criticism. There is an innate desire within us to see underdogs succeed and conquer the favourites. There is a need for fans to see surprises and shocks, to maintain a high interest and emotional stake in a sport. The same applies to when Alonso ended Schumacher’s dominance in the early 2000’s and then Hamilton himself stopped Vettel’s run of consecutive titles at four.

These things are all debatable, and we shouldn’t forget all the aforementioned records Lewis Hamilton has broken. As the main counter argument is that the numbers don’t lie. There is one driver who tops the list for most important milestones in the sport. Should Lewis hang around the next two years, then there’s every chance he also sets new precedents in race’s started and world title wins.

Moreover, we shouldn’t forget some of the sensational driving Hamilton has done over his career. He came within a single point of a world title in his debut season. He came from starting fourteenth on the grid to win in Germany. He had his own “lap of the gods” when qualifying in Singapore. All these accomplishments, plus many more, mean it is difficult to say how Hamilton is, in any way overrated. For the majority of last season, nobody on the grid (and there are many talented drivers) came anywhere close to Max and Lewis out front.

It remains near-impossible to compare drivers across different era’s. The tracks, Cars, safety measures and money differences mean the sport is almost unrecogniseable from even the late 90’s. That being said, we did try in our recent article; https://wheel2wheelreports.com/2022/01/29/who-is-the-best-driver-f1-has-ever-seen/

Whether the man from Stevenage is the best ever, it is a matter of personal opinion and everybody will have their own view of that. Maybe the best course of action is to wait and see what the Brit achieves, both on and off the track, in what is left of his Formula 1 career.